Brussels

1. Julien Meert at Island

The young Belgian artist Julien Meert learned his craft at La Cambre’s ENSAV and currently lives and works in Brussels. Renowned for his large-scale, colourful paintings, Island Gallery is now showing a selection of Julien’s most recent drawings under the title ‘Pétales’ in an exploration of an unexamined facet of his oeuvre.

2. L’Atlas at Galerie Martine Ehmer

French artist Jules Dedet Granel aka L’Atlas is one of the few who’s managed to make it from street the gallery, and Galerie Martine Ehmer is now presenting both a look at both, featuring an outside mural to go along with the indoor exhibition, ‘Sfumato’. Working with tags, graffiti, stencils, posters and sticky tape, but also with canvas and video, his work is inspired by calligraphy and mysticism. “For me there is no difference between the universe and painting. When you look at a map, the universe and cosmos are geographic landscapes in a balance. In my paintings I’m looking to rediscover the balance of the landscapes and cosmos,” says the artist.

3. Walter Swennen at Rodolphe Janssen Gallery

Belgian artist Walter Swennen can look back on a long and fruitful career, one that will be honoured with a retrospective this October at Brussels’ Wiels. Rodolphe Janssen Gallery is currently offering a small-scale appetiser of what’s to come, presenting a selection of Swennen’s paintings from the ’80s and ’90s. “The world of the cast-off and the incomplete is invited in and asked to take a seat, wherever and whatever that may be,” writes Frieze Magazine.

4. Brussels Women’s  Film Festival at Botanique

It’s the fourth edition of female film festival Elles Tournent this weekend, a cinematic marathon that celebrates films made by women. This year the focus is on Belgian-made films and all screenings are followed by a discussion with the audience. Plus, there’ll be an award handed out for film students as well as workshops for professionals and laymen.

5. Electronic Art Festival at Bozar

Modeselektor, Jon Hopkins, Moritz Von Oswald & Juan Atkins… Bozar’s Electronic Art Festival is bringing together the crème de la crème of electronic music makers this weekend, not to mention a number of audio-visual installations, performances, and workshops. Three days to delve deep into the best of digitial culture.

6. Tropic of Cancer at Le Brass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz1iaB3778s

Fact Magazine describes Tropic of Cancer as an “exquisite gothic pop project” while Boomkat calls it “a triumph of decadent misery and gothic romance.” This weekend’s Blackout party is your chance to find out for yourself which label you think the most fitting, when LA-based Camella Lobo, the creative mind behind the project, presents her wares live on stage. Also on the menu are fellow LA musicians DVA Damas as well as a DJ set by Blackmarquis.

Antwerp

7. Koenraad Dedobbeleer at Galerie Micheline Szwajcer

In ‘Ignorance Never Settles a Question’ Belgian artist Koenraad Dedobbeleer presents 13 sculptures based on copied or subtly modified everyday objects, focusing on the repetitive nature of exhibitions by referencing his previous shows. Frieze Magazine credits Dedobbeleer for his “twisted humour” and Sculpture Magazine notes his “respect for material culture, meaning, and craftsmanship”.

8. Night Vision at De Studio

Do you remember a time when Saturday night party pictures didn’t appear all over social media on Sunday morning? Us neither. In collaboration with Red Bull Elektropedia, Ghent’s A&Gallery is presenting “Night Vision. Cameras Ready, Prepare to Flash”, a look-back on 25 years of Belgian nightlife. Featuring the work of Dieter De Lathauwer, Frédéric Leemans, Benoît Meeus and Thierry van Dort.

Ghent

9. Vincent Meessen and Tshyela Ntendu at Kiosk

In ‘Patterns for (re)cognition’, Ghent’s KIOSK Gallery juxtaposes works by Brussels-based artist Vincent Meessen and decades-old creations by Congolese artist Tshyela Ntendu in what makes for an interesting confrontation. Meessen’s work largely evolves around African issues with a special interest in the relationship between colonial psychology and Western geometrical abstract art.

Charleroi

10. Michel Mazzoni at Musée de la Photographie

When we interviewed French-born, Brussels-based photographer Michel Mazzoni in our grey album, he told us all about his preferred weapon of choice. Now, he’s exhibiting a selection of his compelling work at Charleroi’s photography museum. His work explores notions of time, space and territory, a balancing act between light, focal point and frame. In ‘White Noise’ he reveals his cineastic side, calling to mind directors like Antonioni and Tarkovsky.